


Royal Pair

by Hyoushin



Series: [HK!!] Royal [1]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, And Tanaka proclaims Hina queen of the court, Crack Treated Seriously, Gen, Gen or Pre-Slash, Hitoka-centric, In which Hitoka realizes Hina is the queen to Kage's king, M/M, Oblivious Hinata, Poor Hitoka, Teasing, lol, not sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 15:05:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8628940
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hyoushin/pseuds/Hyoushin
Summary: “Look at that,” Hitoka heard Tsukishima say in a quiet, mocking drawl, “the royal pair has arrived.” “what do—do you mean by royal, Tsukishima-kun?”  An innocuous question that gave her hell on a normal morning practice.





	

“Look at that,” Hitoka heard Tsukishima say in a quiet, mocking drawl, “the _royal pair_ has arrived.” He wasn’t speaking to anyone in particular, even though his best friend—she assumed—Yamaguchi, was right beside him as he usually was. It might have been only a coincidence that today she had been close enough to overhear him, because normally, she wouldn’t have dared to strike up a conversation with someone who was a bit too phlegmatic and unapproachable, but his previous utterance stirred a curiosity that overpowered her timidity.

Hitoka had realized instantly that Tsukishima was referring to Hinata and Kageyama, who were, when she glanced at them, trying to not die of breathlessness as they lay in a pitiful sprawl on the gym’s threshold after their customary race. Hitoka shielded a fond smile with an upraised hand. “Um,” she began, nearly flinching at how loud and tinny her voice sounded, but it caught the boy’s attention and that was what she wanted. Tsukishima looked down, and though Hitoka felt it was kind of nerve-wracking to be the sudden focus of his gaze, she braved the next step she had to take, “what do—do you mean by _royal_ , Tsukishima-kun?”  

Tsukishima lifted a blond eyebrow, clearly not expecting the question. He seemed to have an inner debate on his answer until he shrugged and spoke, “you’re aware of the nickname Kageyama has since middle school, right?”

 _Ah,_ royal _pair,_ the girl thought, _stupid, of course!_ “The king of the court,” she stated, low enough to be considered a whisper; somehow, she had the feeling that Kageyama could sense whenever he was called like that. Hitoka was quick to consider the implications of the words. The tone with which Tsukishima had drawled the title _royal pair_ could imply he believed Hinata had attained the same or a similar rank, thus, he viewed them now as a unit.

According to that logic, Hinata had become—or, more accurately, was becoming into a second _king._ A notion she, more or less, could agree with, for she had stumbled upon an alike observation in the past as it was impossible to overlook the intimidating, and at times, demanding side which took over Hinata’s buoyant disposition. The conclusion etched a frown of dissatisfaction on her face, though; it seemed like a mismatched outfit to her, or like an elusive detail clashing with another in a design.

She decided to backtrack. Same or similar rank, then, if not a king, the alternate option would be the role of the—“ _queen_!” Hitoka gasped out, eyes widening. A minor difference, but one that felt inexplicably _right_. She tilted her head slightly, watching the oddball combo with wonder, as if she were witnessing for the first time one of their godlike quicks.

“Wanna practice broad attacks, send those tosses a little bit higher, Kageyama! Don’t hold back!” Hinata shouted from one corner of the court.

Hinata’s shout startled Hitoka. At some point, while she was immersed in her reverie, most of the team had resumed practice.

“Who’re you to tell me how to toss, idiot!” Kageyama barked.

“The only one who tolerates you, jackass,” Hinata retorted. “Doing run-up now. Get ready.”

Kageyama was certainly about to fire a venomous reply, but Hinata took off, and in a matter of seconds, he was jumping sideways, his body rising over the left side of the net. Hitoka observed how Hinata’s movements forced Kageyama to swallow his irritation, his lean body obeying automatically the command Hinata issued every time he was up in the air— _toss to_ me _._ It was a compelling sight, indeed, even for someone like her, who was still in the process of learning all about the sport.  But how was it like, she wondered, for someone as skilled as Kageyama?

Hinata executed what must have been a flawless straight, judging by the silence replacing the reverberations left in the wake of Hinata’s spike.

Was it her imagination?  For a moment, she thought she had caught something ineffable hidden in the neutrality of Kageyama’s current expression.

“Tanaka-san and Azumane-san are great spikers, they’re part of the team’s arsenal…but Kageyama-kun’s weapon of choice is Hinata-kun,” she mused, recalling the matches she had attended. “Huh,” she continued, entranced by her train of thought, “so Kageyama-kun is turning Hinata-kun into…into the _queen?_ ” Hitoka was not entirely sure how that made sense, only that it did.

Once again, Hitoka was startled out of her skin, this time by twin howls of laughter.

“—hear that, Ryuu?!”

“Yah, the king’s got a wife!”

_Oh, no._

Hitoka’s face reddened in embarrassment. She had the tendency of thinking aloud. This was going to be blown out of proportion by these _two_. She just _knew_. She had to stop them before the situation escalated. “Ni—Nishinoya-san, Ta—Tanaka-san, please, would you quiet down? You’re disrupting practice!”

But their raucousness drowned her pleas and drew everyone’s attention to them. Why Shimizu had to be absent _today_ of all days? She couldn’t restrain these demons by herself!

Nishinoya jumped three feet high, exclaiming, “Shouyou!! There it is, your nickname!!”

“Nickname?” Hinata perked up. “I have one?”

“Yeah, didn’t you know?” Tanaka grinned. Then, he cleared his throat, straightened his back, affected a solemn air, and boomed out, “May I present the _king_ and _queen_ of the court!”

In this instance, it was horrifying to see the rest of the team succumbing to Nishinoya and Tanaka’s antics. Utter chaos was unleashed and she stood on its epicenter.

“Wha—what!” Hinata spluttered, a shade of pink dusting his cheeks. “Why am _I_ the queen? Who came up with that?!”

“’Coz Kageyama’s the king, dimwit,” that sounded like Tsukishima, “face it, you’re the wife.”

(More gales of laughter wreaked the gym. And behind Hinata, Kageyama seemed to have been overcome by a suspicious reticence.)

“Hitoka-chan did!” Nishinoya wheezed as he rolled on the floor.

“Hitoka-chan?” Hinata’s look of betrayal was too much for her, so she resolved to fix this mess she had inadvertently shoved herself in. Hinata had defended her once before, she might as well return the favor.

“It—it’s, actually, pretty cool, don’t you see? You, being, the queen, because,” Hitoka was sure that by now her face was tomato red. _How can I explain something I half-understand!_ “Because—” she darted her eyes around the place and noticed everyone giving her expectant stares. Tsukishima had a minute smile on his face. It contained a sadistic edge that made her shiver. _He’s enjoying this, isn’t he? He’s not gonna help me! But why should he? It’s my fault anyway for being indiscreet!_ “—because it’s like Chess,” she blurted.

“Chess?” Hinata scratched the back of his orange head in puzzlement.

 _These guys don’t know anything else apart from Volleyball._ _Well, here’s my chance._ “Yes! In Chess, while the king’s the most important piece, the queen’s the strongest one.”

The unanimous _‘ah’_ of understanding and appreciation allowed her to heave a sigh of relief.

“Oh! _Oh_! Really?” The immediacy with which Hinata brightened up over such a simple thing was frightening.

Hitoka nodded. “And—and the queen has a high value too, so, so sometimes the queen is used as a decoy to trap the opponent, but the piece can also be used to attack. That’s what you _do_ , uh, during matches….”

And just like that Hinata was happy to let it be.

(Kageyama was mysteriously composed.)

“When you put it _that_ way, it does sound cool,” said Nishinoya.

“Yup. So cool that it’s annoying,” supplemented Tanaka.

“Guys, that was interesting and all, but playtime’s over, get back to spiking,” ordered Sawamura.

Before Hitoka could retreat to her spot on the bench, she felt the weight of someone’s gaze on her. She looked up to find Tsukishima mouthing, ‘ _nice save_.’

 _Thanks,_ Hitoka thought as she wiped her forehead with a towel. Her nerves were fried, but she hoped Shimizu would be proud of her when she recounted tomorrow what happened today.

Being a manager was too damn stressful.

**Author's Note:**

> Just something I wanted to do for fun when I realized that Hinata is like the queen cause of this [pic](http://www.mangago.me/read-manga/haikyuu/mf/manga/haikyu/c209/pg-4/)  
> and [this one](http://www.mangago.me/read-manga/haikyuu/mf/c224/pg-21/) and then if you compare the style of their crowns with this [pic here](https://goo.gl/images/ECMe0L)


End file.
